The present invention relates to vehicle load carriers for carrying cargo, and more particularly, to a vehicle load carrier with a fastening mechanism for securing a cargo support structure to a vehicle attachment structure of the load carrier.
Load carriers for carrying cargo on the exterior of a vehicle take various forms and are widely known. Common load carrier components include a cargo support structure for carrying various types of cargo and a vehicle attachment for securing the cargo support structure to a vehicle. The cargo support structure may be configured for use with luggage, various types of recreational equipment, or virtually any other type of load. The vehicle attachment structure is secured to the cargo support structure and may include various structures configured to mount the load carrier to a vehicle. For example, many vehicle load carriers are mounted to an automobile via a hitch receiver provided on the rear bumper region of the automobile. Other load carriers are mounted to the roof, rear gate, doors or other structures provided on the exterior of an automobile.
Known load carriers suffer from various problems related to connecting the cargo support structure to the vehicle attachment structure. For example, the cargo support structure is often integrally formed with, or otherwise permanently secured to the vehicle attachment structure. This is undesirable from a manufacturing standpoint because the end product is bulkier, and thus more difficult to package and ship. In addition, extra steps are often required to manufacture vehicle load carriers having permanently affixed cargo support structures.
These designs may also be problematic for an end-user. For example, cargo support structures specifically designed to carry bicycles are not normally suitable for supporting luggage carriers, nor are they easily adapted to that task. If a cargo support structure having such a design were permanently affixed to a vehicle attachment structure, a completely different vehicle load carrier would be required for use with luggage carriers and loads other than bicycles. In general, vehicle load carriers with permanently affixed cargo support structures are not easily adapted for use with different to types of loads.
Some vehicle load carriers include cargo support structures that are not permanently secured to the vehicle attachment structure, allowing a user to assemble and disassemble the load carrier. However, these designs often employ fastening mechanisms for securing the load carrier structures together that require numerous parts, that are difficult to operate, or that don""t tightly secure the structures together. Many of these designs allow play or other relative movements to occur between the load carrier components, leading to undesirable rattling or creaking noises and increased wear. Relative movements between the components may, in turn, be distracting or disconcerting to the occupants of the vehicle, and increase the risk that the supported cargo or load carrier itself will become unsecured from the vehicle.